Antimicrobial resistance of bacteria is rapidly increasing and has been declared a multinational public health crisis. One of the most critical resistant pathogens is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which has developed resistance to all beta-lactam antibiotics. There are 80,000 severe MRSA infections each year in the United States that are responsible for 11,285 deaths annually (CDC Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013).
While new antibiotics are in development, the ones closest to market are derivatives of old antibiotics. S. aureus has proven remarkably resilient and developed resistance to all introduced antibiotics, including a recent report of vancomycin resistant-MRSA. This suggests that resistance will rapidly develop against these new antibiotics as well.